


The Art of Getting Caught

by onemechanicalalligator



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Friendship, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:01:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27804241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onemechanicalalligator/pseuds/onemechanicalalligator
Summary: Troy and Abed haven't told their friends that they're together. Their friends find out anyway.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 18
Kudos: 223





	The Art of Getting Caught

Britta gets out of class and is walking across the quad when she notices Troy and Abed across the way. She loves those boys, and she sometimes finds herself jealous of their friendship with each other, of the fact that they’re inseparable. Especially now that they even live together and always have each other to hang out with. Britta often finds herself lonely, unsure if she really belongs. She’s never had a friendship like Troy and Abed’s, never had a best girl friend like the kind you see in movies. 

She doesn’t have anywhere to be right now, so she decides to see if they want to hang out together. She follows them down the sidewalk, but they’re far enough away that even when she runs, she can’t quite catch up with them. So she just follows them from a distance, figuring eventually they’ll have to slow down or stop, and then she’ll reach them. It’s not like she’s got anywhere else to be right now, anyway. 

Finally they turn a corner, and Britta jogs to catch up. She loses them for a minute, and it takes some searching, but she finally sees them over in a small cluster of trees. Abed has Troy pushed up against one of them, one hand on his waist underneath his shirt, and their lips are pressed together in a messy kiss.

Britta stops in her tracks and ducks back around the corner before she calls too much attention to herself. She’s thrilled with this new development, although disappointed that they didn’t feel like they could tell her about it. She realizes maybe she didn’t understand their friendship as well as she thought she did.

* * *

Pierce goes into the bathroom at school to take his medication without an audience. He’s standing at the counter finishing up when he hears muffled giggling coming from the only occupied stall. The giggling soon gives way to the sound of bodies moving in a tight space and what Pierce knows  _ very well _ as the sound of kissing. 

He’s intrigued, and he remembers what he used to get up to in public bathrooms when  _ he  _ was young and on top of his game. Thinking of that reminds him of that airplane bathroom, and Eartha Kitt, and if he’s honest, he can’t actually remember whether he made that up or if it actually happened...

The kissing soon devolves into quiet noises and gasps, sounds of skin on skin, and Pierce could swear he recognizes the voices, but he just can’t place them. It’s definitely two guys, which will provide a great setup for a gay joke, so he waits around to see who they are.

When Pierce hears the stall door open, he’s surprised to see a very flushed Troy and Abed walk out of it.

“GAY!” he shouts, pointing at both of them. “I knew it! You just had gay sex in a bathroom stall!”

Troy and Abed are both standing directly in front of Pierce. They look at each other for a moment, then back at him. Abed tilts his head, and Troy narrows his eyes.

“What are you talking about, man?” Troy says, sounding baffled. 

“Yeah,” Abed agrees. “We just came in here from that direction,” he adds, pointing to the door to the restroom.

“What? No, you didn’t,” Pierce exclaims. “I heard you in that stall!” He gestures towards the stall, which is in the opposite direction of where Abed is pointing.

“And can you prove that?” Troy asks, hands on his hips, looking Pierce dead in the eye.

“It’s your word against ours,” Abed adds, one eyebrow raised. “See you later.”

Troy and Abed exit the bathroom, leaving Pierce alone and bewildered. 

He tries to bring it up to Jeff a little while later, and is met with an eye roll. By the end of the day, he’s forgotten about it altogether.

* * *

Jeff is at Troy, Abed, and Annie’s apartment, waiting for Annie to get ready so he can take her to campus to work on a project. She just got out of the shower, so she’s in her room changing and drying her hair. Jeff waits for her in the living room.

He notices that the door of the Dreamatorium is closed. He's just a little bit curious to see it. He's never been inside before, and Abed is kind of obsessed with it, and he wants to see what all the fuss is about. He’s pretty sure Troy and Abed aren’t home, so he doesn’t see any problem with taking just a quick peek. He turns the handle and starts to step inside.

He stops short when he sees that Troy and Abed  _ are,  _ in fact, home.

They’re dressed as Inspector Spacetime and Constable Reggie, only their pants are in a pile on the ground and the front of Abed’s robe is pulled open. Troy’s hands are pressed against the wall and Abed is behind him, his hands on Troy’s hips. Abed is pushing into Troy, breathing hard, making him moan. Both of them, thankfully, have their eyes closed.

Jeff steps right back out of the Dreamatorium and quietly pulls the door shut behind him.

He wonders if this is a new thing, or if he’s just out of the loop. He thinks about it and decides not to ask Annie about it when she comes out of her room. 

The boys will tell them when they’re ready.

* * *

Annie started wearing earplugs to sleep at night when she lived above Dildopolis, and she got so used to them that she’s continued to wear them even now that she lives with Troy and Abed, despite the fact that the new apartment is much quieter. It’s become part of her routine, and she puts them in each night just before she turns out the lights.

Tonight, she’s distracted by a homework assignment and she does her whole bedtime routine out of order. She’s completely thrown off, and that’s probably why she forgets the earplugs when she gets into bed, and she goes ahead and turns the lights off. 

Under other circumstances, it’s possible she wouldn’t even have noticed the difference. There aren’t any noises from the street outside, and there are no businesses nearby. In general, their apartment is pretty quiet at night. Or at least, it’s quiet outside.

Annie turns off the light and curls up in bed, and she’s just about to fall asleep when she hears a sound on the other side of the wall -- the wall she shares with the blanket fort. It’s soft, but she’s pretty positive she heard something like a sigh or a whimper. She wonders whether Troy or Abed talk in their sleep, and she just never knew because of her earplugs.

A minute or so later she hears another sound, and this one is a little louder, and it sounds like Abed saying, _ “Oh.” _ Again, Annie wonders if Abed is talking in his sleep, and if this is something he does often.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a creaking sound, which she assumes to be the bunk bed, though she’s not sure what’s making it creak. Maybe one of the boys is getting up to get a glass of water. She listens for the sound of footsteps, but she doesn’t hear any. 

_ “Ohmygod.”  _ It’s Troy’s voice coming through the wall this time, all breathy, and Annie hears him clearly. Which means she also hears him just as clearly when he goes on to say,  _ “God, yes, Abed, please,”  _ and then Annie sits straight up in bed, her eyes wide, suddenly very aware of  _ exactly  _ what’s going on next door. 

She fumbles for her earplugs as the creaking sound intensifies. She can feel herself blushing hotly. The last thing she hears before she gets the second earplug in is,  _ “Troy, I’m--”  _ And then blissful silence. 

Annie stares up at the ceiling, wide awake, her mind going a million miles an hour.  _ So, Troy and Abed are having sex, _ she thinks.  _ That’s fine. _

She wonders if they’re dating, or if it’s more of a casual thing. She wonders, but she knows she won’t ask. They obviously haven’t told her for a reason, and she doesn’t want to humiliate them by revealing what she heard. 

She falls asleep wondering how long this has been going on.

* * *

Shirley gets to school extra early one morning, managing to convince Andre to get the boys ready for school and drop them off so she can have a little extra time on campus. 

When she arrives, she heads straight to the study room. The doors are closed and the lights are off, but the blinds are all open. She’s counting on being the first one there so she can get some work done before all the distractions start up.

She’s about to push the door open when she happens to glance through the window and sees that she is not, in fact, the first one here. Abed is sitting on the study room table and Troy is standing in front of him. Abed’s arms are around Troy’s waist, and Troy rests one hand on Abed’s cheek as he leans in to kiss him on the mouth. 

Shirley takes a step back, caught completely off guard and unsure how to react. She stands frozen for a few moments. She is somehow completely shocked and not at all surprised at the same time.

She finally gets a grip and decides to head to a different part of the library to do her studying. She settles down at a table of her own and pulls out her books. She decides to ignore what she’s seen.

That night, she prays for guidance. Over the next few days, she does a little bit of research online. A week later, she contacts the pastor of an LGBT-friendly church in town in order to get a new perspective.

She’ll do what she needs to, if it means learning to support her boys.

* * *

Study group is ending one afternoon when Abed looks over at Troy with a determined expression and nods. Troy nods back, sporting the same look on his face, and both of them stand up.

“Bye, Abed,” Troy says loudly and awkwardly, as though rehearsed. “I’ll see you later on at home.”

“Bye, Troy,” Abed replies in the same stilted manner, and then they lean in and kiss in front of everybody.

“Oh!” exclaim Annie and Shirley together.

“I told you!” shouts Pierce.

Britta and Jeff don’t say anything, but they both smile smugly to themselves and then each other.

“We figured we might as well put it out in the open,” Abed says. “Since you all already know anyway.”

“We do?” Britta asks, one eyebrow raised.

“Yeah,” Troy says. “You saw us kissing by a tree on campus. Pierce caught us in the bathroom. Jeff walked in on us in the Dreamatorium. Shirley saw us through the study room window.”

“And Annie,” Abed adds. “I don’t know when you saw us, but you haven’t made eye contact with either of us in a couple weeks, so we just kind of assumed.”

“I, uh, heard you through the wall,” Annie squeaks, her face red.

_ “Ohh,” _ Troy and Abed say together.

“Sorry,” Troy adds sheepishly.

“It’s okay,” Annie says. “Usually I wear earplugs.”

“Well, anyway,” Abed says. “There’s no use in continuing the Secret Relationship trope, and the Interrupted Intimacy trope failed spectacularly. You all are very good at being discreet.”

“Wait, you did this on purpose?” Shirley gasps. 

“No,” Abed says, shaking his head. “We didn’t set out to orchestrate it. We were just surprised that none of you went through with it after catching us. On one hand, maybe a missed opportunity. On the other, better for all of our dignity and, frankly, much appreciated.”

“Anyway,” Troy cuts in. “We’ve been dating for about a month and we’re very happy. And now everyone’s in the loop.”

“Guys, we’re really happy for you,” Jeff says warmly. “Aren’t we?” he adds, looking around the table.

The study room erupts with a chorus of “Oh yes!” and “Of course!” and “Absolutely!” and “GAY!”

“Cool,” says Abed. “Cool cool cool. Thank you. We’ll see you guys later.” He leans Troy back for a dramatic movie kiss, and then the two of them do their handshake and head out the door.


End file.
